Silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials have a structure in which light-sensitive emulsion layers comprised of three kinds of silver halide emulsion layers which are selectively sensitized with red, green and blue light, respectively, are multilayered and are coated onto a support. For instance, color photographic printing papers (hereinafter referred to as color papers) generally have red sensitive, green sensitive and blue sensitive emulsion layers on a support in this order as viewed from the side which is exposed, with intermediate layers, protective layers or the like provided between the respective light-sensitive layers for inhibiting color mixing cross talk and for absorbing ultraviolet rays. Moreover, so-called color positive films have green sensitive, red sensitive and blue sensitive emulsion layers applied on a support in this order as viewed from the side remote from the support, namely, from the side which is exposed. Color negative films have various layer arrangements, and generally have blue sensitive, green sensitive and red sensitive emulsion layers in this order from the exposed side. However, light-sensitive materials having two or more emulsion layers which are sensitive to the same color light with different sensitivity levels sometimes have other emulsion layers having a different color sensitivity between any two of the layers. For example, yellow filters which are capable of being bleached and other intermediate layers are sometimes inserted between the emulsion layers, and protective layers are sometimes formed on the outermost layer.
In order to form color photographic images, a light-sensitive material having light-sensitive emulsion layers containing photographic couplers corresponding to the three colors, i.e., yellow, magenta and cyan, is exposed to light, and the exposed light-sensitive material is subjected to color developing processing by so-called color developing agents.
The thus formed color dyes are required to be bright yellow, magenta and cyan dyes having reduced subsidiary absorption, and to provide color photographic images having excellent color reproduction.
Color dyes which are formed by 5-pyrazolone type magenta couplers widely employed for forming magenta dyes have a subsidiary absorption in the vicinity of 430 nm beside the main absorption in the vicinity of 550 nm. Therefore, various studies have been conducted for solving this drawback of subsidiary absorption.
Among such studies, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,061,432, 4,540,654 and 4,500,630, and JP-B-47-27411, JP-A-60-33552, JP-A-60-43659, and Research Disclosure No. 24626 disclose pyrazoloazole type magenta couplers which are capable of providing dyes having excellent spectral absorption characteristics with reduced subsidiary absorption. (Note that the term "JP-A" refers to an unexamined, published Japanese patent application, and "JP-B" refers to an examined, published Japanese patent application.)
However, these pyrazoloazole type couplers are disadvantageous in so far as gradation in a low density part of the images, which is called "toe part gradation", is difficult to control. This has hindered the introduction of couplers of this type into products. In order to improve the toe part gradation of pyrazoloazole type couplers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,613, EP-A-0 459 331 A1 and the like propose using pyrazoloazole type couplers together with gradation improving agent. However, the effects are not necessarily satisfactory, and there are adverse side effects such as unstable photographic performance during storage, deterioration of processing solutions under continuous processing, and the like.